Divers on the Clarence shipwreck (photo courtesy of Heritage Victoria)

The secrets of the deep will be uncovered when archaeologists excavate a significant colonial shipwreck in Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay later this month.

Leading Monash University archaeologist Adjunct Senior Research Fellow Dr Mark Staniforth from the School of Geography and Environmental Science and a 60-person team will examine the excavation, reburial and preservation of the Clarence, a historically significant colonial wooden trading vessel wrecked off Portarlington in 1850.

Dr Staniforth, a specialist in Australian colonial shipbuilding and maritime archaeological excavation and one of three chief investigators on the three-year Australian Historic Shipwreck Preservation Project (AHSPP) said Australian wooden shipwrecks had huge potential to tell us about historic connections, technological innovation and daily life in colonial Australia.

“Their archaeological potential is often under enormous threat from natural and human impacts and we must find ways to preserve them for future generations,” Dr Staniforth said.

“One of the main aims of the project is to develop a protocol for the excavation, recording and reburial, as well as the preservation of significant shipwrecks and their associated artefacts on the sea bed.”

Excavation work will start on the site on 16 April and continue for a month. It will involve maritime archaeologists and conservators from Monash University, UWA, the Australian National University, the Western Australia Museum, the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, and many State and Territory museums and heritage authorities as well as students and volunteers. Six maritime archaeologists from Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines New Zealand and the USA have also been invited to participate in the research.

“The research will foster the development of a consistent national methodology for shipwreck and artefact storage and preservation underwater. It will be critical to the future development of national, and international, policy and guidelines for site managers of historic wrecks,” Dr Staniforth said.

“The researchers will record the degree to which domestic versus traditional (namely British) shipbuilding techniques were used, study how shipbuilding methods were designed to suit new environments and the use of different timbers.

After recording artefacts in purpose-built laboratories, artefacts will be re-buried in controlled environments so specialist conservators can monitor them over the next three years.

“This project offers an ideal pathway for developing a national collaborative approach to the sustainable management of maritime cultural heritage.”

The project is supported by the Australian Research Council.

How long have you worked at Monash?
I have been at Monash since I began my undergraduate studies in 1997! I think I have been on the payroll in some form since about 1999.

Where did you work prior to starting at the University?
Until the end of 2010 I was lecturing in the School of Geography and Environmental Science (SGES)  (teaching soil science and physical geography) in addition to my College Head role.

Read the full article here…

The first season of excavation on the Clarence will take place from 16 April to 12 May 2012 from a jack-up barge located over the site. The project is seeking a small number of volunteers with archaeological object recording and handling experience. For more information you can contact Mark at:

Mark.Staniforth@monash.edu

The project will study colonial shipbuilding by conducting a detailed excavation program with GIS-enhanced logging of wreck structures, fittings and objects, recording the degree to which domestic versus traditional (namely British) ship building techniques were used, study how shipbuilding methods were designed to suit new environments and the use of different timbers, document the presence and nature of durable organic materials like wooden pulleys, leather and rope, and analyse other materials, such as metal fastenings and fittings, to inform on innovation in building practice. AHSPP also aims to make significant advances on current international reburial and in-situ conservation approaches in near coastal zones where impacts are highest and develop intervention protocols in order to successfully stabilise and conserve shipwreck sites. The project will develop a reburial methodology that will subject all excavated artefacts and objects to a sophisticated, forensic document ation prior to their reburial which has not previously been done in maritime archaeology.

The project website provides educational information about the excavation, and daily updates will be made via blogs during the excavation. The project website is available at:

http://www.ahspp.org.au

Prof. Jim Peterson ( 1939 -- 2012)

Prof. James Andrew Peterson, friend and highly valued colleague to all in the School of Geography and Environmental Science and to the wider community of scholars, passed away on 23 January 2012 aged seventy-three.

Peterson undertook his undergraduate degree at the University of Tasmania (1957-1960) and began publishing on the glaciation of Frenchmans Cap (the subject of his Honours thesis) and other geomorphic topics in the mid 1960s. He subsequently undertook summer field seasons in northern Canada, extending his knowledge of cirques and cirque glaciers, and completing an MSc thesis on the Whitegull Lake area in Labrador at McGill University in 1964. Having returned from Canada, Peterson joined the then Department of Geography at Monash to undertake his PhD research.

His seminal thesis, “The cirques of southeastern Australia”, in two large volumes, was submitted on 1 February 1969. Subsequently, Peterson faced the issue of just what a glacial specialist would teach in an Australian university, on a mainland lacking even permanent snow. With his usual enthusiasm and wise scholarship Peterson developed popular and influential courses dealing with coastal geomorphology, with the volcanic landforms of western Victoria, and began training students in fieldwork and sound scientific observation.

Always keen on new approaches and new methods, he was quick to embrace new methods of remote sensing and satellite observation that were in their infancy in the early 1970s. With his graduate students, Peterson built up facilities to support the use of these new research tools and extended these in stages as rudimentary remote sensing gave way to increasingly sophisticated geospatial mapping and modelling. He was the foundation Director of the geographical information systems laboratory in the School and this stands as one of the notable legacies of Peterson’s time at Monash University; it reflects his belief that, for the School to succeed, it needed to embrace new methods and remain at the leading edge of innovative teaching and research.

Peterson’s legacy also includes the many thousands of undergraduate students whom he taught and inspired and a substantial cohort of research students, many of whom are now in significant academic or Governmental positions. His colleagues will greatly miss a man of wisdom and integrity, ever cheerful, and with a unique and stimulating view of how academic life can and should be lived.

There is also a forthcoming memorial service for the late Prof. Peterson. See: http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/news-events/events/memorial-service-associate-professor-jim-peterson-1939-2012/

GES Head of School, Prof. David Dunkerley

In 2012 Monash’s School of Geography and Environmental Science (GES) celebrates its fifty-year anniversary, an exciting milestone that will be marked with a full commemorative programme, including seminars presented by distinguished alumni and a jubilee dinner.

An act of the Victorian Parliament established Monash University in 1958 and the fledging institution admitted its first students in 1961. The Faculty of Arts was one of the foundation faculties and initially consisted only of the Departments of English, History, Philosophy and Modern Languages although this was soon expanded to include a new range of disciplines, and the school of Geography was established in 1962.

Since its foundation, the GES has distinguished itself as a school with an impressive record both in teaching and also research at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. A hallmark of the school has been its diverse and vigorous research, spanning the natural environment and its evolution, human settlements, agriculture, international development, resource management and Indigenous Australian archaeology.

Recent high-profile archaeological projects at Jawoyn in the Northern Territory as well as a series of prominent ARC linkage projects related to climate change and resource conservation have helped maintain the school’s enviable reputation within Australia and abroad.

On the occasion of the school’s fiftieth anniversary, GES Head of School Associate Professor David Dunkerley remarks that the discipline of geography continues to foster vitally important integrated thinking about the environment and human stewardship of land, water, and other resources. “The proud tradition of geographers in mapping and recording the Earth and its features continues, albeit with the aid of increasingly sophisticated methods,” Prof Dunkerley says.

Prof Dunkerly adds “Importantly, however, much contemporary geographical scholarship addresses the very significant challenges of sustainable and resilient occupation of the Earth in the face of growth in population and resource use. When ongoing climatic and environmental change are also considered, it becomes clear that documenting, understanding, and managing the Earth’s environments will continue to rely upon the skills and approaches of well-trained geographers.”

In its jubilee year and beyond, it is expected that the GES will continue to develop well-trained geographers and cement its place as an important centre for research, particularly with respect to fields of growing importance both within Australia and internationally, such as sustainable development and climate change.

GES 50th Anniversary Seminar Series

Seminars : GES 50th Anniversary Seminars and Events

For further information, visit GESisFifty on facebook or see the GES is 50 website.

Climate Change: Carbon Cycle, Mortality, Growth, and Shift of Forests http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2012/session/9699 at the European Geoscience Union General Assembly that will be held in Vienna in April, 2012 http://meetings.copernicus.org/egu2012/home.html

These Sessions are programmed the first time following a proposal made by Fabrizio D’Aprile. He presented works at the EGU 2009, EGU 2010, and EGU 2011 assemblies. The EGU annual events are attended by thousands of scientists, researchers, and academics worldwide.

The EGU General Assembly 2012 will bring together geoscientists from all over the world into one meeting covering all disciplines of the Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences. Especially for young scientists, it is the aim of the EGU to provide a forum where they can present their work and discuss their ideas with experts in all fields of geosciences. The EGU is looking forward to cordially welcoming you in Vienna.

Fabrizio encourages participating at the EGU 2012 General Assembly, a highly profiled and perfectly organized top-research international event. For the EGU2012 there are over 500 unique Sessions in 24 Disciplinary Sessions http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2012/sessionprogramme. The Call-for-Papers is now open and Abstracts can be submitted until January, 17, 2012 http://meetings.copernicus.org/egu2012/deadlines_and_milestones.html